My blog is relatively new and has become much more than I ever would have expected. I owe this to the various people and organizations I am nominating below for the Edublogs 2009 awards! I have learned by their examples. My knowledge as well as my passion for learning and collaboration I owe to them. Several others not on this list have also been influential.
My Nominations
Best individual blog– Kalinago English, Karenne Sylvester’s blog, has everything a blog needs from passionate posts to technology tips to controversial stances against the injustices in education! I’d also like to nominate Terry Freedman’s ICT in Education blog. He continues to write thought-provoking posts and provides useful tips for educators through his blog and other multimedia channels.
Best individual tweeter– Steven Anderson, @web20classroom, is an incredible representative of what an educator on Twitter should be. He is a close friend. He really cares about education and shares resources as well as helps as many educators through Skype. He does this in addition to working as the technology specialist for 19 schools. @Tomwhitby continues to inspire thought-provoking conversations which proves the 140 character limit is not limiting at all!
Best group blog– The Educator Royal’s Treatment, which is managed by Ken Royal, is a daily stop for me! I anticipate all the posts and have really had some great moments reading the various posts!
Best new blog– Ken Wilson has written one of the most compelling blogs that often reads like a novel. I would also like to include Marisa Constantinide’s blog, which is rich with teaching instruction advice and Tamas Lorincz’s blog which is thought-provoking and makes the educator deeply self-reflect.
Best class blog– Gelincik Grubu is a kindergarten class blog created by teachers in Turkey. They showcase the incredible work the children do which is an inspiration!
Best student blog– Adora Svitak is a 12 year-old prodigy who writes thought-provoking pieces such as how she feels befriending her principal on Facebook to poetry!
Best resource sharing blog-Several of my original posts began with links from Larry Ferlazzo’s blog. Rarely do I go a week without referring to a link within a post I found through Larry! I would also like to include Ozge Karaoglu’s blog, which has become a wonderful source of information to various Web 2.0 tools! Cybraryman also has a great website for nearly every subject imaginable.
Most influential blog post– Burcu Akyol has created one of the most influential blog series for educator’s professional development, Spread Your Knowledge. The Spread Your Knowledge series featured posts written from leading experts. Topics covered include getting published, how to tweet, creating a PRESTO, doing a presentation, blogging, and creating your own educational materials. I would also like to include the post by Scott Mcleod about Leadership Day 2009 which inspired several bloggers globally to blog about effective technology practices on July 12th.
Most influential tweet / series of tweets / tweet based discussion– #Edchat is a discussion which has included over 400 educators, parents, student teachers, and administrators. Through #edchat various educators were able to debate a topic with the incredible education author, Alfie Kohn. I am honored to collaborate on this great project with Tom Whitby and Steven Anderson. I would also include #teachertuesday which is managed by TheEngTeacher who also manages to feed teachers’ blogs on Twitter.
Best teacher blog– Chickensaltash not only shares various resources in his blog, but he also shares how his students collaborate with other schools around the world. Chickensaltash’s work with Cool Earth is inspiring to educators. His work with schools in Peru and his travels as an educator in the rainforest earned him a nomination for the education Oscar’s.
Best librarian / library blog–Library Tech Musings by Gwyneth A. Jones is a treasure trove of web 2.0 tools and technologies for libraries. The blog is also highly visual.
Best educational tech support blog– If I need to know how to use a specific technology I visit David Kapular’s blog, Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyberhero. David has also published 6 free e-books to explain the various resources in his blog and has developed a wiki dedicated to these materials.
Best elearning blog– Elearning Learning has each of my favorite elearning blogs in one spot.
Best educational use of audio– Breaking News English by Sean Banville has over 1o00 audio files to support over 1000 current events. Each audio file is relevant, interesting, has supportive text, and exercises to accompany it! Moreover, Sean has pair activities for each lesson and even asks educators what news they would like him to do an audio file and lesson for!
Best educational use of video / visual– Russell Stannard has created several teacher training videos on various websites and nearly every web 2.o tool imaginable! TEFLClips by Jamie Keddie hosts various videos and accompanying lesson plans.
Best educational wiki– Ozge Karaoglu’s wiki reviews several web 2.0 tools in depth, provides excellent uses of Glogster, and showcases the incredible ways she uses web 2.0 tools with children.
Best educational use of a social networking service– The Educator PLN ning was created by Tom Whitby and continues to be one of my favorite places to travel daily to mingle with over 1500 educators! Additionally, Steve Hargadon’s Classroom 2.0 ning is a thriving community of nearly 35,ooo educators.
Best educational use of a virtual world– Edunation, which is currently run by The Consultants-E, is the place educators go to teach lessons, create educational materials, and attend conferences in Second Life. This mass of three virtual islands has been a safe haven for educators and free for all to use. It is also an invaluable source of professional development.
Lifetime achievement– Sue Waters has been the most influential individual in helping me develop my blog this year! All her websites, wikis, blogs, webinars, individual help, and virtual chocolates have helped make me pass the 5 month blogger mark!
New Categories
In the spirit of writing in nominations and candidates, I’m including the following categories and hope these will be accepted or considered as categories for next year. I hope giving awards for these categories will inspire more educational projects in these areas:
Best Blog Series– my nomination is for Burcu Akyol’s Spread Your Knowledge series.
Best Virtual Conference– Heike Philp’s Virtual Round Table Conference had over 400 participants worldwide, 49 guest speakers, and brought together some of the best educational panels and experts for free! Educators even won over 3000 Euros worth of prizes and the entire conference took place online!
Best Example of an Educator Digital Portfolio– Ozge Karaoglu once again has shown what an excellent educator portfolio should look like. I encourage you to read her series on creating your own digital portfolio.
Best Classroom Collaboration Project– Arjana’s high school students from Croatia have made a deep connection with Monika Hardy’s students in Colorado. They even celebrated Thanksgiving together and collaborate frequently on a ning.
Best Webinar– Jo Hart, Phil Hart, Sue Waters, and Stony River bring us great webinars about various educational topics week after week for free! They deserve more than virtual chocolates. How about a virtual award?
Best Blog Carnival– Karenne Sylvester had an impressive blog carnival which included a slideshow of blogs and a poll. The Edge of Education carnival hosted by We Teach, We Learn was one of my favorites as well with quotes from each blog!
Absolute Best Readers in the World- You!
Challenge:
Make your Edublog Awards Nominations! Which sites and blogs have been influential for you this year?
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